Automatic slide music stand

ABSTRACT

An automatic slide music stand including a cabinet having a compartment in the top portion thereof and holding therein a slide projector, the top of the cabinet having a projection screen formed integrally therewith to receive images from the projector on the back surface thereof and to show such images therethrough, the projector including a power control switch, a brightness control switch for the intensity of the light source of the projector, an adjustable time providing a mode of timed sequential operation of the sequencing of the showing of a series of slides on the projector, and a foot operated switch for manual control of the projector in both a forward and backward slide changing manner, the device operable such that a series of slides having a musical score thereon may be sequentially automatically projected onto the viewing projection screen by either manual operation of the foot switch by the musician or automatically by the timer adjusted to change the slide at a rate corresponding to the desired flow of music to be played by the musician using the stand during the play of his musical instrument.

United States Patent [1 1 Heist AUTOMATIC SLIDE MUSIC STAND [76] Inventor: Kenneth D. Heist, 31 18 Edmond,

Billings, Mont. 59102 [22] Filed: July 1, 1974 21 Appl. No.: 484,542

Primary Examiner-Richard E. Aegerter Assistant Examiner-A. J. Mirabito June 3, 1975 [5 7 ABSTRACT An automatic slide music stand including a cabinet having a compartment in the top portion thereof and holding therein a slide projector, the top of the cabinet having a projection screen formed integrally therewith to receive images from the projector on the back surface thereof and to show such images therethrough, the projector including a power control switch, a brightness control switch for the intensity of the light source of the projector, an adjustable time providing a mode of timed sequential operation of the sequencing of the showing of a series of slides on the projector, and a foot operated switch for manual control of the projector in both a forward and backward slide changing manner, the device operable such that a series of slides having a musical score thereon may be sequentially automatically projected onto the viewing projection screen by either manual operation of the foot switch by the musician or automatically by the timer adjusted to change the slide at a rate corresponding to the desired flow of music to be played by the musician using the stand during the play of his musical instrument.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures AUTOMATIC SLIDE MUSIC STAND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to accessories utilized by musicians in the play of their instruments. and more particularly to a novel and improved automatic slide music stand for clear display of a musical score to be followed by a musician without having to turn pages of sheets of music in booklets and the like as is presently conventionally required.

2. Description of the Prior Art As is well known, in the playing ofa musical score by musicians in a band, orchestra, and the like, the score is printed on conventional music sheets, booklets, and the like in a page-by-page manner requiring that the musicians must use one hand to constantly turn the page of music to follow the musical score. This is frequently quite difficult on the musician who must still maintain the flow of the music while turning the pages, with this also being quite disturbing to the audience viewing the performance when all of the musicians within a particular portion of the orchestra must simultaneously turn the pages of their musical booklet. Further, this requirement on the musician may frequently encumber the musicians playing ability, such as should the musician inadvertently turn more than a single page and thus be posed with the difficulty of having to again find the proper place in the score while still maintaining the playing of his instrument by memory. Obviously, if the score has not been partially memorized by the musician, this leads to further problems in that the musician has no alternative but to completely stop playing until after finding his place in the score once again.

While this problem has been generally recognized in the musical field, there has been no successful readily accepted solution thereto with the prior art attempting to provide such solutions by automatic page turning devices, musical scores imprinted on rolls of paper for ease of turning by the musician rather than individual sheets, and the like. However, each of these solutions has not been acceptable since. for example, the page turning devices are bulky, awkward in use, and further distracting to the audience and musician during operation thereof. Further, such devices are subject to frequent malfunctions resulting in the turning of more than the single required sheet of music. As to the musical scores imprinted on rolls, this has not been found to be acceptable as the musician must roll the score before him during the play with the musician not being able to view an entire page or sheet of the score instantaneously which poses playing difficulties in attempting to relearn the following of a score with such a device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention recognizes the difficulties presently encountered by musicians having to turn music sheets during the play of a musical score, and recognizing the deficiencies and disadvantages of presently available musical accessories which attempt to solve this difficulty. the present invention provides a novel solution thereto in the form of a music stand including a slide projector mounted for projecting a series of sequential slides onto a projection screen forming the top of the music stand in a manner to clearly display each sheet of the musical score individually on the projection screen, the musician utilizing a foot switch to manually change slides to the next slide illustrating the next sheet of the music without having to stop the play of his instrument or use either hand.

It is a feature of the present invention to provide an automatically operable slide music stand for use by musicians.

A further feature of the present invention provides an automatic slide music stand including a projector displaying sequential slides on a projection screen mounted in the top of the stand, the stand including a brightness control to select the desired brightness of the slide display on the stand along with including an optionally utilizable timer adjustable by the musician to effect the automatic changing of the slide display at a rate corresponding to the desired flow of music.

Among further features and advantages of the present invention is the provision of an automatic slide music stand which is relatively simple in its construction and which therefore may be readily manufactured utilizing readily available components; one which is easy to use and reliable and efficient in operation; one which is aesthetically pleasing and refined in appearance; and one which is otherwise well adapted to perform the services required of it.

Other features and advantages of this invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like reference characters are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the automatic slide music stand of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view ofthe music stand;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the top portion of the music stand, partially broken away to illustrate the projector containing compartment therein; and

FIG. 4 is an electrical schematic view of the circuit of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in detail there is illustrated a preferred form of an automatic slide music stand constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and designated generally in its entirety by the reference numeral 10.

The music stand is formed of a cabinet 11 having a pair of opposed side supporting legs 12 which are spaced apart a distance permitting one or both legs of a musician to be rested therebetween when the musician is in a sitting position, the legs being joined at their top portions by top member 14 which has a top edge l5 along each of the legs which is tapered at an incline upward and rearwardly from the front 16 to the back 17 of the cabinet.

A horizontally extending shelf 21 is disposed in the interior of the top portion of the cabinet resting on supports 22 and 23 affixed to the interior of the back surface 17 and front surface 16 respectively, the shelf defining thereabove a compartment 25 which opens out of the top of the cabinet between side edges 15. A triangularly shaped bracket 26 is secured to the back portion of the shelf adjacent back surface 17 and is for use with a slide projector 30 as will be later described.

Closing the top portion of cabinet 11 and resting on side edges 15 to also completely close compartment 25 is a top member 31 including a frame 32 supporting therebetween an opaque type projection viewing screen 33 and a control panel 34 mounted at the bottom portion thereof. The control panel has mounted thereon an on-off control switch 35 for use with projector 30, a brightness control switch 36 for use with the light source of projector 30, and a manually adjustable timer switch 37 for use with projector 30 in a manner as will be later described. The top member 31 is provided with a hinge 38 along its top edge of the frame 32, the hinge being connected intermediate cabinet side 12 and to the top edge of back surface 17 such that the top member is pivotable thereabout between a position resting on edges 15 to close compartment 25 and a position pivoted upwardly therefrom, such as generally designated in phantom configuration by reference numeral 31 to provide ease of access to compartment 25.

The slide projector 12 is relatively conventional as to successively indexing a series of slides supported in a rotatable tray 41 into a projection position so that the slide images may be projected onto the viewing screen 33. The slide projector includes a projection lens 42 for projecting the musical score on each slide in the tray 41 onto the screen 33, such as illustrated in FIG. 2. The projector has an internally mounted slide-changing mechanism which includes electro-mechanical solenoids 43 and 44 which are primarily controlled by a foot switch 45 for selectively controlling the slidechanging operation in a forward or reverse manner selectable by the foot switch, the solenoid 43 effecting forward sequential changing of the slides and with the solenoid 44 effecting reverse backward changing of the slides. In this manner it is possible for a musician to back up for one or more slides of the musical score, such as when practicing and learning the score.

As seen in FIG. 4, the on-off control switch 35 is connected by suitable wiring to an electrical cord 47 adapted to be plugged into a conventional source of electrical power, such as a conventional household receptacle and the like. The brightness control 36 is a variable rheostat connected in electrical series relationship between the bulb providing light source 42 and the control switch 35 with the rheostat being variable to selectively control the brightness of the light source between a minimum and maximum value.

The foot switch 45 is connected by a suitable electrical cord 48 to the control solenoids 43 and 44, the foot switch having a pair of independently operable switches 51 and 52 therein. Switch 51 is disposed in electrical series relationship with forward changing solenoid coil 43 and controls the operation thereof. with switch 52 disposed in electrical series relationship with reverse solenoid coil 44 and controls the operation thereof. It is apparent that by operating foot switch 45 in a manner to close switch 51, coil 43 will be energized to effect a forward single changing of a single slide by the slide changing mechanism. Similarly, activation by foot switch 45 of switch 52 will effect operation of the slide-changing mechanism to change a single slide in the backward direction. To perform this. the foot switch 45 is preferably of a rocker type configuration intended to be operated by the heel and toe movement of one foot of the musician resting on the top portion of the foot switch, the musician pushing downward with the toe portion of his foot to close switch 51 with the musician pushing down with the heel portion of his foot 5 to close switch 52. It is apparent that both switches 51 and 52 cannot be closed at the same time. Thus. as seen in FIG. 1, the foot switch includes top member 51 pivotally connected intermediate its end portions by rocker pivot 52 resting on bottom member 53 to thus provide the rocking pivotal movement of the top member in a manner to selectively operate either switch 51 or 52.

The manually adjustable timer 37 includes electrical contact 37' disposed in series relationship to forward changing coil 43 and in electrical parallel relationship to switch 51 so as to control activation of the coil 43 in a manner independently of switch 51. The timer is adjustable by the musician in a manner to control the operation of contact 37 at any selectable time interval, such as every seconds, this thus automatically oper ating the slide changing mechanism such that a new slide is displayed every timed interval. This feature provides for the musician to adjust the rate of operation of the slide changing mechanism with the rate corresponding to the flow of the music so that the slides are automatically changed at this desired rate without the musician having to operate the foot switch 45. In addition, this provides a feature which may be set by music teachers and the like to force a student to play a musical score at the intended rate, with the student failing to do so thus falling behind and having to eventually learn to adjust his rate of play to the desired rate of music flow.

There is thus provided a novel automatic slide music stand providing for musical score to be displayed to a musician without requiring the musician to stop the play of his instrument to utilize a hand to change conventional music sheets in books and the like, with the musician only having to operate a foot switch to effect the change of the musical score. Further, there is provided the novel automatic timer to effect the fully automatic change of the musical score in accord with the rate corresponding to the flow of the music.

It is to be understood that the form of this invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that this invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of the parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification as various changes in the details of construction as to shape, size, and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of the novel concepts thereof, or the scope of the sub-joined claims.

Having thus described the invention. what is claimed 1. A music stand for use be musicians to display a musical score, the score being set forth on a sequential series of slides, the stand comprising:

a cabinet having a pair of supporting leg members extending from a top portion with the top portion being disposed at an upward incline slanting upwardly from the front to the back thereof with the top completely covering the cabinet top portion:

a compartment formed interiorly of the top portion of the cabinet and opening out of the top thereof; means pivotally mounting the top to the cabinet to provide selective access to the compartment;

a viewing screen defined in said top and having a front surface exterior of the top and back disposed toward said compartment:

a slide projector mounted in said compartment and having a controllable slide-changing means associated therewith to operate the means in forward or reverse direction;

a light source associated with the projector to project the slide image onto the back surface of the viewing screen;

manually operable means for selectively varying the intensity of the light source;

a control switch for selectively energizing and deenergizing the projector and light source;

first electro-mechanical control means for operating the slide-changing means in a forward direction, the first control means having a manually adjustable timer operatively associated therewith, the timer adapted to be pre-set to any desired time interval for operation of the first control means to au tomatically sequence the slides, the time interval being selectable by the user;

second electro-mechanical control means for operating the slidechanging means in a reverse direction;

a control panel mounted on the top member and having the panel control switch, brighteners control, and adjustable timer mounted thereon for ease of access and use; and

foot operated means for selectively energizing either the first or second control means for operating the slide-changing means in forward or reverse direction for sequential slide selection and projection. the foot operated means including a flat rectangularly shaped bottom member operatively associated with a similarly shaped top member, a rocker element disposed intermediate to top and bottom members between the opposite ends thereof to define a rocking support for the top relative to the bottom, a first switch disposed adjacent to one end of the bottom member and operated by contact with the adjacent end of the top member, a second switch disposed adjacent the opposite end of the bottom member and operated by contact with the adjacent end of the top member, the first switch being electrically connected to the first control means and the second switch being electrically connected to the second control means whereby the user may select the mode of operation by a rocking movement of the foot on the foot operated means to selectively energize either the first or second switch.

2. The music stand as set forth in claim 1 wherein the timer includes a switch actuated thereby at the preset timed intervals, the switch connected in electrical parallel relationship to the first switch of said foot operated switch to control the energization of the first control means independently of the first foot operated 

1. A music stand for use be musicians to display a musical score, the score being set forth on a sequential series of slides, the stand comprising: a cabinet having a pair of supporting leg members extending from a top portion with the top portion being disposed at an upward incline slanting upwardly from the front to the back thereof with the top completely covering the cabinet top portion; a compartment formed interiorly of the top portion of the cabinet and opening out of the top thereof; means pivotally mounting the top to the cabinet to provide selective access to the compartment; a viewing screen defined in said top and having a front surface exterior of the top and back disposed toward said compartment; a slide projector mounted in said compartment and having a controllable slide-changing means associated therewith to operate the means in forward or reverse direction; a light source associated with the projector to project the slide image onto the back surface of the viewing screen; manually operable means for selectively varying the intensity of the light source; a control switch for selectively energizing and de-energizing the projector and light source; first electro-mechanical control means for operating the slide-changing means in a forward direction, the first control means having a manually adjustable timer operatively associated therewith, the timer adapted to be pre-set to any desired time interval for operation of the first control means to automatically sequence the slides, the time interval beIng selectable by the user; second electro-mechanical control means for operating the slide-changing means in a reverse direction; a control panel mounted on the top member and having the panel control switch, brighteners control, and adjustable timer mounted thereon for ease of access and use; and foot operated means for selectively energizing either the first or second control means for operating the slide-changing means in forward or reverse direction for sequential slide selection and projection, the foot operated means including a flat rectangularly shaped bottom member operatively associated with a similarly shaped top member, a rocker element disposed intermediate to top and bottom members between the opposite ends thereof to define a rocking support for the top relative to the bottom, a first switch disposed adjacent to one end of the bottom member and operated by contact with the adjacent end of the top member, a second switch disposed adjacent the opposite end of the bottom member and operated by contact with the adjacent end of the top member, the first switch being electrically connected to the first control means and the second switch being electrically connected to the second control means whereby the user may select the mode of operation by a rocking movement of the foot on the foot operated means to selectively energize either the first or second switch.
 1. A music stand for use be musicians to display a musical score, the score being set forth on a sequential series of slides, the stand comprising: a cabinet having a pair of supporting leg members extending from a top portion with the top portion being disposed at an upward incline slanting upwardly from the front to the back thereof with the top completely covering the cabinet top portion; a compartment formed interiorly of the top portion of the cabinet and opening out of the top thereof; means pivotally mounting the top to the cabinet to provide selective access to the compartment; a viewing screen defined in said top and having a front surface exterior of the top and back disposed toward said compartment; a slide projector mounted in said compartment and having a controllable slide-changing means associated therewith to operate the means in forward or reverse direction; a light source associated with the projector to project the slide image onto the back surface of the viewing screen; manually operable means for selectively varying the intensity of the light source; a control switch for selectively energizing and de-energizing the projector and light source; first electro-mechanical control means for operating the slidechanging means in a forward direction, the first control means having a manually adjustable timer operatively associated therewith, the timer adapted to be pre-set to any desired time interval for operation of the first control means to automatically sequence the slides, the time interval beIng selectable by the user; second electro-mechanical control means for operating the slidechanging means in a reverse direction; a control panel mounted on the top member and having the panel control switch, brighteners control, and adjustable timer mounted thereon for ease of access and use; and foot operated means for selectively energizing either the first or second control means for operating the slide-changing means in forward or reverse direction for sequential slide selection and projection, the foot operated means including a flat rectangularly shaped bottom member operatively associated with a similarly shaped top member, a rocker element disposed intermediate to top and bottom members between the opposite ends thereof to define a rocking support for the top relative to the bottom, a first switch disposed adjacent to one end of the bottom member and operated by contact with the adjacent end of the top member, a second switch disposed adjacent the opposite end of the bottom member and operated by contact with the adjacent end of the top member, the first switch being electrically connected to the first control means and the second switch being electrically connected to the second control means whereby the user may select the mode of operation by a rocking movement of the foot on the foot operated means to selectively energize either the first or second switch. 